Having started years ago and failing with single malts, I shifted to Cognac. After learning how to approach and savor Cognac, I journeyed back to single malt, via Bourbon, with great success. Now I enjoy single malt, bourbon and Cognac! The best advice I was ever given regarding Cognac was to buy the obscure producers of which I had never heard. Sound advice indeed! Thanks for your reviews.
Thanks ralfy for all your work, I've been watching your ralfy-ish stuff for years now and enjoy both your character and the education you provide. Keep on malting!
Hi Rafy. Having enjoyed many of your whisky recommendations, I thought I'd mention a Cognac for you to try (if you haven't already). My go-to Cognac is Delamain Pale & Dry because it is a superb Cognac that is surprisingly well priced. Delamain produces only XO Cognac, using grapes from Grand Champagne area (the best). The Pale & Dry is their baseline Cognac, aged for 20 to 25 years in cask. I recently bought a bottle in Atlanta for $100.
look forward to the day you review some great mezcals....im Canadian but spend much of time in mexico and have always had a soft spot in my heart for mezcals...escpecially after seeing first hand how they are produced and the labour that goes into the agave
Excellent cognac review (will likely be picking up a bottle soon), and wonderful advice on taking a break from whisky once in awhile to get a better perspective on this wonderful hobby/passion of ours. Can you review Tesseron Lot 76? Thanks, and keep up the reviews!!!
+mirqo Good idea, Glenlivet Nadurra 16 years old ! Or else, mmmh Bruichladdich Infinity on an auction ending at 3 a.m. ? Glenfiddich 15 yo small batch ? Signatory Glenturret 1973 ? Edradour 1998 Bordeaux 13 yo Signatory ? I guess the "affordable" part will be the problem :D Or else Paul John Peated Select Cask Indian Single Malt. Of course, there's bourbon: Eagel Rare 101.
+mirqo BTW, I just heard a review of Knockando 21yo Master Reserve and then noticed that Ralfy has never done a review of Knockando - there are age statements, there is no caramel added, why not ?
+mirqo Nah, the Knockando was another thing, it should have happened at review number 43. An awful lot of whisky should have been on reviews 40, 43, 46 and 48. But the other list above was all 55.5%. If he hadn't done it on review 193 already, I think he would go for the Glenlivet Nadurra 16.
This video has taught me that I don`t understand global cognac prices at all. Here in Ontario a young VS cognac costs as much as a 10-12 year single malt, a VSOP costs as much as 15 year single malt and XO prices are out of this world. Also we mainly have the big brands. So, considering that a 30 year malt costs about $1000 here, Cognac is much more valuable at the same age and the principle that prices increase exponentially with age - I`d guess a 50 year cognac would be worth about $25-$30,000 here ;) 100 pounds is just incredible!
I know it's a long shot because it's hard to find even where I live in the North East USA, but see if you can find Blanton's Bourbon Whiskey from the Buffalo Trace Distillery
As I'm trying to widen my horizon in 2022 just bought a Bottle of vallein tercinier hors d'age. Serge liked the 2013 and 2016 Version 90/89 / and for guaranteed age of at least 40 yrs still affordable (115 EUR). maybe worth a video if you tend to do a cognac review in 22 it's been awhile since you did that :)
Hi Ralfy Congratulations for the posts. I'm your fan. People try to imitate but you are the best; have style!. I'm from Brazil and here scotch whisky is expensive. Sometimes we find bargains. I can buy today a litre of William Lawson for about 10 pounds.And in my opinion is a very good price. I think it's a good whisky but the taste of alcohol is high ( very young) and I would like you to tell me a way to blend it and make something reasonable. More palatable. Malt whisky is expensive . We can find Chivas or Ballantines for 25 pounds or Black label or double black for 30 pounds. Malts starts at 40 pounds. What receipt do you recommend to do to get a good blend using William Lawson? Or forget about it? Regards. Bruno
Ralfy malt mate, could you please spell that bear mentioned around 16th min..? Cheers mate and..please do some more rum and cognac and grappa...etc reviews. (btw..Mortlach 75 yo, 44.4 %, is right there on the market for 20.000 pounds..).
+ralfystuff +Tanasie Octavian Thanks mates! Ralfy, wish your auction (and hunt for a world speed record) to be a huge success. The other day you mentioned that in Scotland malnutrition amongst children can still be found. Damn, If there Is a single argument for Scotland independance well, that is the one for sure! Cheers.
hi ralfy. i promote your videos in belgium since quite some months now and we all love 'em! learned so much about whisky since i discovered the vlogs and now eager to learn about cognac, armagnac and rum too. i did particularly also like your grappa review. could you give us more of that? oh and let's make it clear: the longer the vlogs, the better! since i discovered ralfy.com, i watch television much lesser ;-) keep up the good work, mate! ps anyone noticed how slim ralfy has got since he revealed to go for a new speedrecord next year? when you go any further, we will need a steam ponker glass to notice you in your vlogs, ralfy! ;-)))
Rancio is a fascinating concept but fortunately for me I seem to prefer younger fresher flavors with some fruit acidity like you get with 10-12 year malts, pisco, reposado tequila, etc. Sure, I'll try and enjoy bourbon, Cognac, Armagnac, rum, but I am not in a race to try the oldest spirit. Much prefer to try many different styles. I do like peat, though :-)
Given scotch prices, and patterns in quality on many new releases, there's certainly no reason not to look for "malternatives", both inside, and outside, of whisky - if young flavour's all you're looking for with a minimum of product information, bourbon certainly has you covered. Given that many of the companies that now own the scotch distilleries also own the facilities that make the malternatives, it's not impossible to consider that a lot of scotch has been allowed to slide to push people TO these other products.
+Malt454 indeed. i just ordered a bottle of Vallein Tercinier Hors d'age. a blend of Cognacs where the youngest involved is 40yo. i paid 120 euros. also a 20-30yo Gabriel & Asocies for 50 euros. try finding that age/price ratio with single malts and see how far you get. malternatives are amazing, especially small family owned French Cognac/Armagnacs who nobody has ever heard of. the price difference between ultra premium Remy Martins and honest small craft, family owned distilleries is amazing. you don't have that in the Whisky Industry, where nowadays every Distillery (no matter how popular or unpopular) and every indy bottler charges a fortune for generic run off the mill single casks of average quality. to be honest i find myself being disillusioned with Whisky. the market is spammed with dozens of releases every week. it's impossible to keep up with it so i choose to ignore the market and to buy only whiskies i really care about, like Glen Garioch, indy Blair Athols and the occasional Springbank/Glenfarclas/Islay. no more squirrel mode.
+Antoine M More than the overall decline in whisky itself - which, depending upon who you believe, may or may not be inevitable in terms of available resources and how thinly quality must be spread - I'm more disillusioned with the overall calibre of whisky commentary. Ralfy and a few others notwithstanding, there are a lot of otherwise respected "whisky experts" who keep pushing the "everything's so new and exciting" whisky narrative instead of being critical of industry practices in any real way. No matter how much anyone likes the products it's applied to, NAS, for example, makes absolutely no sense in terms of its contradictions- that the relevance of age to whisky is determined by the label applied - yet it's all given a pass. Consumer tastes are being groomed toward youth - in both senses - and "young is the new good", even where it won't be confirmed as young, because it's what the beancounters are willing to provide.
+Malt454 yes quite a few reviewers seem like marketeers. one has to wonder where the new and exciting come from with all these Whiskies being released. i live in Germany and we get a bigger selection than any other country in Europe. maybe even more stuff than the UK, (if you count in German bottlers who are great) and Germany exclusives, of which there are many. some shops here have over 1200 single malts and still get new bottles every week. so it seems that quality must be spread very thinly. when even indy bottlers are going crazy with finished Whiskies, you know there is something missing. they are spamming Whiskies. the prices are another thing. last year Springbank 18 was sold for an initial price of 90 euros. the 2015 version has an initial price tag of 135. not kidding. i say initial because there is a common practice among retailers, where they first sell a Whisky for an acceptable price. once they see how quickly it sells, they raise the price to absurd levels. this usually happens within a week. on monday it costs 90, on friday its already at 140. more than 50% increase. i am no longer playing their game.
+Antoine Yes, the "new" recognition of the importance of casks and finishes - as if no one ever looked at the oak before someone coined the term "wood management" - is another good example of the distracted orthodoxy; somehow casks are important but the time spent in them is not, particularly where the former can be used as a selling point and the latter cannot. In many ways, however, whisky consumers have been their own worst enemy, because their tolerance and support of many of these trends, whether considered or unconsidered, encourages more of the same. After NAS and weird finishes become the norm rather than the exception, people will eventually say "where did all the quality go" and then move on, never questioning how they helped whisky slip.
I drank a lot of great cognacs and even more so mezcals before I got into whisky and I did have the opportunity to taste this one...and for the price its a fairly good cognac....not one that was memorable in my opinion and nothing stood out as being outstanding to me....really there are much much better cognacs around the 80 to 150 range but nothing off putting nothing bad about this at all
Videos getting too long rally I assure you it's putting people off.10minutes is long enough to discuss the drink then go through the smell taste finish etc,please accept as constructive criticism.
Having started years ago and failing with single malts, I shifted to Cognac. After learning how to approach and savor Cognac, I journeyed back to single malt, via Bourbon, with great success. Now I enjoy single malt, bourbon and Cognac! The best advice I was ever given regarding Cognac was to buy the obscure producers of which I had never heard. Sound advice indeed! Thanks for your reviews.
Any thoughts about Frapin and Hardy cognacs?...
They seem to be the less well known in my area.
Thanks ralfy for all your work, I've been watching your ralfy-ish stuff for years now and enjoy both your character and the education you provide. Keep on malting!
I'd really like to see you review the springbank 15, I know you love the distillery would love a review of this malt!
Hi Rafy. Having enjoyed many of your whisky recommendations, I thought I'd mention a Cognac for you to try (if you haven't already). My go-to Cognac is Delamain Pale & Dry because it is a superb Cognac that is surprisingly well priced. Delamain produces only XO Cognac, using grapes from Grand Champagne area (the best). The Pale & Dry is their baseline Cognac, aged for 20 to 25 years in cask. I recently bought a bottle in Atlanta for $100.
Thanks for the review Ralfy. As I have said before not a spirit I like looking forward to going back to some more Whisky Reviews.
Any chance of a Hine review?
great story telling sir.. i think you just sold my on giving this bottle a taste... thank you.
one more thing, i really value your breakdown and would LOVE if you can do a review on the Tesseron Lot 29 Cognac, much would be appreciated!
look forward to the day you review some great mezcals....im Canadian but spend much of time in mexico and have always had a soft spot in my heart for mezcals...escpecially after seeing first hand how they are produced and the labour that goes into the agave
Excellent cognac review (will likely be picking up a bottle soon), and wonderful advice on taking a break from whisky once in awhile to get a better perspective on this wonderful hobby/passion of ours. Can you review Tesseron Lot 76? Thanks, and keep up the reviews!!!
Great review, especially the ransil explanation. Cheers!!
Hey Ralfy. Have you got any plans to review any cachacas in the 'non whisky' series?
*Three weeks to go to review 555 !* What will it be ?
+Soteriologe Maybe a review of some good affordable SM bottled at 55.5 %..:)
+mirqo Good idea, Glenlivet Nadurra 16 years old ! Or else, mmmh Bruichladdich Infinity on an auction ending at 3 a.m. ? Glenfiddich 15 yo small batch ? Signatory Glenturret 1973 ? Edradour 1998 Bordeaux 13 yo Signatory ? I guess the "affordable" part will be the problem :D Or else Paul John Peated Select Cask Indian Single Malt. Of course, there's bourbon: Eagel Rare 101.
+mirqo BTW, I just heard a review of Knockando 21yo Master Reserve and then noticed that Ralfy has never done a review of Knockando - there are age statements, there is no caramel added, why not ?
+Soteriologe Yep, why not...(If Its bottled at 55.5%, then Rafy should def. go for it:)
+mirqo Nah, the Knockando was another thing, it should have happened at review number 43. An awful lot of whisky should have been on reviews 40, 43, 46 and 48. But the other list above was all 55.5%. If he hadn't done it on review 193 already, I think he would go for the Glenlivet Nadurra 16.
And thanks once again for letting me try it in the Bon last night.
Any chance you'll be reviewing the 2015 Johnnie Walker Green Label? It does carry the 15 yr age statement.
+Dana Johnson . . . can't source it where I am for the moment !
Does anyone know how to spell 'ransil'? I'm trying all variations in the dictionary and can't find it. Perhaps I'm a touch dense!!
+Philip Eagleton rancio
Thank-you.
Clearly I'm deaf!!!
+Philip Eagleton Do you mean rancio ? Term that used when smelling cognacs.
'Malty mistletoes' in early September, gosh, the Christmas season starts earlier every year.
I had heard the term used in a few Bourbon reviews. I did not know what it was, thanks for the education!
Hi ralfy, why are all cognacs bottled at 40% and not higher?
Sounds like good stuff!
:D love your stuff Bryan!
+cigarobsession
I wish Bryan and Ralfy would collaborate on a cigar and whisky pairing. Love you both, keep doing the great stuff you do.
This video has taught me that I don`t understand global cognac prices at all.
Here in Ontario a young VS cognac costs as much as a 10-12 year single malt, a VSOP costs as much as 15 year single malt and XO prices are out of this world. Also we mainly have the big brands.
So, considering that a 30 year malt costs about $1000 here, Cognac is much more valuable at the same age and the principle that prices increase exponentially with age - I`d guess a 50 year cognac would be worth about $25-$30,000 here ;)
100 pounds is just incredible!
Looks like you have been enjoying that bottle ; )
Hey Ralfy, always good to see you!
Are you planning, by any chance, to review the Laphroaig 15 limited edition? It's a cracking whisky!
Cheers.
I want one of these bottles so bad but I just can't get my hands on one here! Such a shame.
I know it's a long shot because it's hard to find even where I live in the North East USA, but see if you can find Blanton's Bourbon Whiskey from the Buffalo Trace Distillery
Whisky in the evening cognac in the morning. :) Good morning from the U.S.
Cheers from Arizona!
Wish I could afford that someday
dear ralfy
can you help me find teachers 12
tried a lot of online shops to no avail
tnx
As I'm trying to widen my horizon in 2022 just bought a Bottle of vallein tercinier hors d'age. Serge liked the 2013 and 2016 Version 90/89 / and for guaranteed age of at least 40 yrs still affordable (115 EUR). maybe worth a video if you tend to do a cognac review in 22 it's been awhile since you did that :)
Hi Ralfy
Congratulations for the posts. I'm your fan. People try to imitate but you are the best; have style!.
I'm from Brazil and here scotch whisky is expensive. Sometimes we find bargains. I can buy today a litre of William Lawson for about 10 pounds.And in my opinion is a very good price. I think it's a good whisky but the taste of alcohol is high ( very young) and I would like you to tell me a way to blend it and make something reasonable. More palatable. Malt whisky is expensive . We can find Chivas or Ballantines for 25 pounds or Black label or double black for 30 pounds. Malts starts at 40 pounds.
What receipt do you recommend to do to get a good blend using William Lawson? Or forget about it? Regards. Bruno
+bruno ricardo Borgatti . . . simply add a little good malt whisky or older rum to a glass of blend and it will 'lift' in quality. Good luck.
Ralfy malt mate, could you please spell that bear mentioned around 16th min..? Cheers mate and..please do some more rum and cognac and grappa...etc reviews. (btw..Mortlach 75 yo, 44.4 %, is right there on the market for 20.000 pounds..).
+mirqo . .of course, beer not bear..:)
+mirqo Wainwright - Thwaites Brewery
+mirqo Wainright Golden Ale produced by Thwaits Brewery.
+ralfystuff +Tanasie Octavian Thanks mates! Ralfy, wish your auction (and hunt for a world speed record) to be a huge success. The other day you mentioned that in Scotland malnutrition amongst children can still be found. Damn, If there Is a single argument for Scotland independance well, that is the one for sure! Cheers.
hi ralfy. i promote your videos in belgium since quite some months now and we all love 'em! learned so much about whisky since i discovered the vlogs and now eager to learn about cognac, armagnac and rum too. i did particularly also like your grappa review. could you give us more of that? oh and let's make it clear: the longer the vlogs, the better! since i discovered ralfy.com, i watch television much lesser ;-) keep up the good work, mate! ps anyone noticed how slim ralfy has got since he revealed to go for a new speedrecord next year? when you go any further, we will need a steam ponker glass to notice you in your vlogs, ralfy! ;-)))
Rancio is a fascinating concept but fortunately for me I seem to prefer younger fresher flavors with some fruit acidity like you get with 10-12 year malts, pisco, reposado tequila, etc. Sure, I'll try and enjoy bourbon, Cognac, Armagnac, rum, but I am not in a race to try the oldest spirit. Much prefer to try many different styles. I do like peat, though :-)
Please post your Facebook page link
Hi Ralfy, great video as usual. You need to review and taste "Daniel Bouju Brut De Fut" 60% cask strength cognac, it is out of this world .
Given scotch prices, and patterns in quality on many new releases, there's certainly no reason not to look for "malternatives", both inside, and outside, of whisky - if young flavour's all you're looking for with a minimum of product information, bourbon certainly has you covered. Given that many of the companies that now own the scotch distilleries also own the facilities that make the malternatives, it's not impossible to consider that a lot of scotch has been allowed to slide to push people TO these other products.
+Malt454 indeed. i just ordered a bottle of Vallein Tercinier Hors d'age. a blend of Cognacs where the youngest involved is 40yo. i paid 120 euros. also a 20-30yo Gabriel & Asocies for 50 euros. try finding that age/price ratio with single malts and see how far you get. malternatives are amazing, especially small family owned French Cognac/Armagnacs who nobody has ever heard of. the price difference between ultra premium Remy Martins and honest small craft, family owned distilleries is amazing. you don't have that in the Whisky Industry, where nowadays every Distillery (no matter how popular or unpopular) and every indy bottler charges a fortune for generic run off the mill single casks of average quality.
to be honest i find myself being disillusioned with Whisky. the market is spammed with dozens of releases every week. it's impossible to keep up with it so i choose to ignore the market and to buy only whiskies i really care about, like Glen Garioch, indy Blair Athols and the occasional Springbank/Glenfarclas/Islay. no more squirrel mode.
+Antoine M More than the overall decline in whisky itself - which, depending upon who you believe, may or may not be inevitable in terms of available resources and how thinly quality must be spread - I'm more disillusioned with the overall calibre of whisky commentary. Ralfy and a few others notwithstanding, there are a lot of otherwise respected "whisky experts" who keep pushing the "everything's so new and exciting" whisky narrative instead of being critical of industry practices in any real way. No matter how much anyone likes the products it's applied to, NAS, for example, makes absolutely no sense in terms of its contradictions- that the relevance of age to whisky is determined by the label applied - yet it's all given a pass. Consumer tastes are being groomed toward youth - in both senses - and "young is the new good", even where it won't be confirmed as young, because it's what the beancounters are willing to provide.
+Malt454 yes quite a few reviewers seem like marketeers. one has to wonder where the new and exciting come from with all these Whiskies being released. i live in Germany and we get a bigger selection than any other country in Europe. maybe even more stuff than the UK, (if you count in German bottlers who are great) and Germany exclusives, of which there are many. some shops here have over 1200 single malts and still get new bottles every week. so it seems that quality must be spread very thinly. when even indy bottlers are going crazy with finished Whiskies, you know there is something missing. they are spamming Whiskies.
the prices are another thing. last year Springbank 18 was sold for an initial price of 90 euros. the 2015 version has an initial price tag of 135. not kidding. i say initial because there is a common practice among retailers, where they first sell a Whisky for an acceptable price. once they see how quickly it sells, they raise the price to absurd levels. this usually happens within a week. on monday it costs 90, on friday its already at 140. more than 50% increase. i am no longer playing their game.
+Antoine Yes, the "new" recognition of the importance of casks and finishes - as if no one ever looked at the oak before someone coined the term "wood management" - is another good example of the distracted orthodoxy; somehow casks are important but the time spent in them is not, particularly where the former can be used as a selling point and the latter cannot. In many ways, however, whisky consumers have been their own worst enemy, because their tolerance and support of many of these trends, whether considered or unconsidered, encourages more of the same. After NAS and weird finishes become the norm rather than the exception, people will eventually say "where did all the quality go" and then move on, never questioning how they helped whisky slip.
Wow, 5 years later inflation, now 240 dollars, too expensive
COGNAC CRUISERS
🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
Omg you have lost a lot of weight!
damn...so close
I drank a lot of great cognacs and even more so mezcals before I got into whisky and I did have the opportunity to taste this one...and for the price its a fairly good cognac....not one that was memorable in my opinion and nothing stood out as being outstanding to me....really there are much much better cognacs around the 80 to 150 range but nothing off putting nothing bad about this at all
+TheJusnic82 Try Deluz XO cognac cost about $ 150. Also, Hardy XO "Noces d'Or at about $190, they both are quite good.
this is about 150£ where I live, I'll pass.
First!
+Rob Cappuccio . . . verified First !
Third boo hoo
Videos getting too long rally I assure you it's putting people off.10minutes is long enough to discuss the drink then go through the smell taste finish etc,please accept as constructive criticism.
+Morag11951 I disagree..It is so enjoyable to be in a such good company as Ralfys so 30 min are barely enough. Cheers mate.
+mirqo you obviously have too much spare time,some of us have a life
+Morag11951 Then switch back to your life malt mate..you know, It is too short to spend it to slow.
+mirqo spoke English tool
+Morag11951 najs tu se yu bek molt mejt..be kareful cos you might stick here and life might disappear.
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